VII. Subfam. Nepetoideae (Dumort.) Luerss. (1882).
VII. 3. Tribe Ocimeae Dumort. (1829).
VII. 3. E. Subtribe Plectranthinae Endlicher (1838).
Annual or perennial, often succulent, aromatic subshrubs or herbs; leaves simple; inflorescence thyrsoid, often condensed, elongate or capitulate, with cymes sessile, usually 5-flowered, much condensed; bracts caducous, sometimes coloured at apex; calyx tubular, ventrally gibbous, laterally compressed basally, often dorso-ventrally compressed at throat, straight or curved slightly upwards, sometimes apically deflexed, strongly 2-lipped, 5-lobed (1/4 or rarely apparently 5/0), lobes unequal, posterior ovate or lanceolate, not decurrent, deflexed at throat, sometimes curving upwards apically, anterior lip 4-lobed with small rounded or lanceolate teeth or truncate, sometimes split between median lobes, the sinus sometimes very deep, so that posterior lip appears 5-lobed, throat closed or partially closed by the deflexed lips; corolla strongly 2-lipped, 5-lobed (4/1), white, blue or purplish, posterior lip ascending with median lobes exceeding lateral, more rarely truncate with lobes inconspicuous, anterior lip horizontal or slightly deflexed, concave or cucullate, corolla-tube narrow, parallel-sided at base, curved and dilating distally towards throat; stamens 4, free, held over or within lower lip, sometimes shortly exserted; stigma lobes subulate, long and sometimes reflexed; disc 4-lobed with anterior lobe much larger, exceeding ovaries; nutlets ovoid, glabrous, slightly flattened, mucilaginous. 2n = 28-34, 52. About 15 to 20 species, mainly in India and Indochina, usually in rocky areas.
36 China40 Indian Subcontinent41 Indo-China42 Malesia
Stiptanthus (Benth.) Briq. in H.G.A.Engler & K.A.E.Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 4(3a): 352 (1897).
Anisochilus Wall. ex Benth. in Edward's Bot. Reg. 15: sub t. 1300 (1830); Bentham in De Candolle, Prodr. 12: 80-82 (1848); Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 4: 627-630 (1885), reg. rev.; Doan in Lecompte, Fl. Gen. Indo-Chine 4: 941-943 (1936), reg. rev.
© Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew